Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (11 page)

Lee hadn’t lifted a finger except to have Shirleen, his now-receptionist, cal a travel agent and arrange our honeymoon. A honeymoon Shirleen wouldn’t tel me word one about under threat of retribution from Lee which even Shirleen took seriously and Shirleen wasn’t afraid of anyone.

Vance walked in wearing a shit-eating grin which he had trained on Jules. He preceded Luke and Ava who were holding hands. If you told me two months ago I’d see Luke Stark holding hands with
anyone
, I would have laughed in your face. But with Ava, anyone could see it came natural y.

Ava looked a bit dreamy which meant Ava got herself some.

I smiled to myself. This gave new meaning to the words

“Love Shack”. This went on any longer, The Castle was going to have to be re-christened.

They were fol owed by Daisy carrying a fresh pot of coffee.

“I made coffee,” Daisy announced. “Anyone need coffee?”

coffee?”

“Actual y, I could use a Diet Coke,” Ava answered.

“I need coffee,” Jules threw in quickly when Daisy’s face darkened.

“Smithie brought donuts. I was going to make pancakes but Smithie brought donuts. I could stil make pancakes.

You want pancakes?” Daisy asked Luke hopeful y.

He shook his head and grabbed a bear claw missing Jules nodding her head at him frantical y in silent communication.

“Stel a makes fancy-ass salmon and potatoes and everyone’s in tears of delight. What? I can’t even make pancakes in my own damn house?” Daisy burst out.

Uh-oh.

“What kind of salmon did she make?” Vance asked the
wrong
question, grabbing a Bavarian cream and sitting on the arm of Jules’s chair.

“It was buttered and herbed and in this light as air pastry,” Ava rhapsodized even though Jules was now frantical y shaking her head at Ava (who also didn’t notice) and Daisy’s face was getting pink. Ava went on, “And the potatoes were creamy and cheesy, sliced so thin, it was
amazing
.”

Daisy glared at Ava, plonked down the coffee and stormed out.

“What’d I say?” Ava asked, glancing around in confusion and Jules smiled at her and mouthed, “Later.”

“Let me get this straight. Mace gets the girl who can cook?” Vance put in.

Jules turned from Ava and punched Vance in the arm then she covered her mouth, made a gagging noise, shot out of her chair and ran from the room.

“Fuck,” Smithie had been reaching for another donut but after Jules’s gag-and-run, he sat back instead.

“I’l go home, to Brownsburg. Stay with Mom and Dad,” Roxie said to Hank, both of them walking into the room.

“No,” Hank replied.

“I’l go to Mexico,” Roxie continued.

“Roxanne, I said no,” Hank returned.

“I’l go to Siberia!” Roxie snapped.

Hank looked at Lee and shook his head.

“Do not shake your head at your brother, Hank Nightingale,” Roxie bit off.

“Fucking great. Donuts. Final y, my day has brightened,” Hank ignored Roxie.

One side of Luke’s lips curled up in a sexy half-grin.

Vance’s shit-eating grin made a reappearance. Eddie bit his lip to stop from grinning. Lee chuckled straight out.

I was guessing Hank and Roxie hadn’t participated in the nookie-a-thon like the rest of us. Then again, maybe they did and the extreme circumstances took the glow off early.

“Do you believe they’re giving up?” Roxie asked me on a huff.

“Nope,” I replied then took another bite of my donut.

“I don’t either,” she flopped down on a couch, gave a good glare to Hank then pul ed out a chocolate-covered, custard-fil ed and bit into it so hard the custard splodged out the side.

“Babe, pour me a cup of coffee,” Luke said to Ava.

“Please?” Ava said back.

“Beautiful Ava, please pour me a cup of coffee,” Luke replied in a soft voice, with a soft look on his face and absolutely no embarrassment whatsoever.

I stared at him. He looked so hot, his voice so sweet, his face unguarded, my heart stopped beating, I quit breathing and I felt a quiver somewhere only Lee was al owed to make quiver.

My eyes flitted to Roxie who was staring at Luke mouth open, then to Jet who was staring at Luke mouth open, then to Ava who was pouring Luke a cup of coffee.

“Indy, honey,” Lee cal ed.

My head snapped around to see he was standing close to my side. His head dipped in and I saw his eyes were amused.

“Quit drooling,” he whispered.

I snapped my mouth shut, gave him a look and shoved in the last bite of my donut.

Jules came back and sat down in her chair again.

“Princess?” Vance asked so quietly you could almost not hear him.

“I’m okay,” she murmured.

His hand went to her face, fingers trailing down her hairline and he tucked her hair behind her ear.

Something hit me, sliding al over me like relaxing in a bath of hot water that smel ed real y good.

I turned back to Lee.

“I get it,” I whispered.

“What?” Lee asked, his eyes coming to me.

My gaze did a sweep of the room and came back to him.

“I get it,” I repeated and his eyes warmed. He knew what I was saying.

“Good,” he replied softly.

“I love you.” I kept whispering.

“That’s good too,” he said on a grin.

I was about to lean up and kiss him when I heard Al y cal out, “I’m gonna have pancakes. I can’t
wait
to have pancakes.”

I turned around to look and saw Al y was walking into the room, her eyes huge, she was looking at me with what could only be described as a “Help me!” look, Daisy by her side.

“I bet most everyone has room for pancakes. Nobody real y likes donuts anyway, they aren’t very fil ing,” Al y declared, going a little over the top but the determined look on Daisy’s face spoke volumes.

Daisy marched right up to Smithie and planted her hands on her slim hips.

“See there, Smithie.
Ally
wants pancakes. Let that be a lesson to you, do not
ever
bring donuts into a Southern woman’s home. Southern women feed their guests and
not
with
donuts
. Comprende?” she snapped.

“Fuck, woman. You got a screw loose or what?” was Smithie’s unwise response.

Before Daisy could retort, we al heard shouted from the other room, “
How dare you come between me and my
band!
”

Everyone went completely silent.

Then we heard the creaking of a pul out bed. Not the tel tale creaking of morning Hot Boy on Rock Chick action but creaking like World War I I had just started in Daisy’s Den.

“Uh-oh,” Roxie breathed.

“Sounds like the Hawaiian has his hands ful ,” Smithie muttered.

“Everyone out,” Lee ordered, his voice low but there was no mistaking he meant to be obeyed, and now.

When the women hesitated, Hank grabbed Roxie’s hand, pul ing her off the couch saying, “Out.” The bed kept creaking, louder and scarier.

“Let’s go,” Eddie was guiding Jet out.

“I’l get the coffeepot,” Daisy whispered, grabbing both nearly empty pots of coffee.

As quietly as we could, we exited the room and went to the kitchen, leaving the donuts behind.

Upon entering the kitchen, Luke closed the door.

“No one leaves this room until one of those two leaves theirs,” Luke announced.

Denied our donuts, Daisy was forced to make pancakes.

* * * * *

Lee had just announced that they were giving up, why Lee had just announced that they were giving up, why they were giving up and that he was going to have a sit down with Sid and it was pretty clear Shirleen wasn’t happy about it.

We were al sitting in Daisy’s big room.

Shirleen, Hector, Darius (Lee’s other best friend, his now employee and Shirleen’s nephew) and Ike had arrived in time for pancakes, making great strides in improving Daisy’s mood. Bobby and Matt were taking care of business. Lee was bleeding money on this venture and someone had to help pay for the wedding.

About half an hour into our kitchen incarceration, Jules had to break Luke’s rule because she had to run to the bathroom to hurl.

When she came back to the room, she announced, “Um, they’re done. I saw Stel a in the hal . Mace too.”

“Thank Christ,” Lee muttered.

Then Jules gathered a Rock Chick huddle.

“Whatever you do, do
not
compliment Stel a on her outfit,” she advised.

“Why?” Ava asked.

“Because it’s cute,” Jules replied.

“And why wouldn’t we tel her it’s cute?” Roxie asked.

“Because Mace packed it for her,” Jules explained.

“Ah,” Jet nodded.

“And he packed her underwear,” Jules went on.

“I see,” Daisy muttered.

“And it’s very sexy. She told me it’s the only sexy set she owns,” Jules continued.

“Welp, there you go,” Al y remarked with complete understanding.

“And he kind of bought it for her when they were together,” Jules said.

Oh my.
That
was interesting.

Daisy giggled and it sounded like tinkling bel s. I loved Daisy’s giggle.

“And he also kind of bought her outfit for her too when they were together.” Jules’s tale of Mace’s Wardrobe Decisions Destruction seemed to never cease.

Jet clapped her hands to her on her mouth, her eyes wide and dancing and Shirleen snorted.

“And it’s cute?” Roxie asked with obvious disbelief.

“Super cute, in a Hawaiian surfer kind of way,” Jules answered.

“I can’t wait to see this,” I whispered.

“I can’t believe Mace could buy a cute outfit,” Roxie responded.

“Is she okay?” Ava asked Jules.

Jules shook her head.

“The stitches?” Shirleen’s voice was sharp; she’d been brought up to date with The Battle of Daisy’s Den.

“No, I think it’s something else. Something that made Stel a look pretty pissed and pretty confused at the same time. However, Mace looked
very
pleased with himself when I saw him come into the hal with Juno as Stel a went into the bathroom.”

“Broody Mace looked
pleased?
” I asked.

We al knew what that meant. Been there, done that, had We al knew what that meant. Been there, done that, had the t-shirt.

Stel a had been laid.

“Dear Lord,” Jet breathed.

“This soon?” Ava asked.

“That beats Hank’s record, I think,” Al y told Roxie.

“Yep,” Roxie replied, a smal reminiscent smile playing about her mouth.

“Holy crap,” I said.

“Shit, I haven’t even had time to sort the pool. How am I gonna win any money back at this rate?” Shirleen looked to Al y. “It’s gonna have to wait until you get nailed.” Al y opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

“You women mind finishing whatever the fuck you’re talkin’ about later?” Lee asked in a not very polite voice.

My head shot up and I glared at him. “This is important,” I snapped.

“Yeah?” he asked on an eyebrow raise.

Oopsie.

Okay, wel , maybe his plans that day were a tad bit more important than gossip.

We gave Stel a and Mace time to shower, have pancakes and then we al wandered into the big room.

Throughout al this I watched Stel a. Her outfit
was
cute. I wanted it. I loved it. It was a black OP tank with a circle of dusky blue hibiscus flowers in a band around the boobs and a pair of dusky gray OP corduroy short shorts. She looked like super-cool, rock-surfer-chick. I was a little surprised at Mace’s heretofore unknown shopping abilities and wondered what the underwear looked like.

Stel a was being quiet and avoiding al things Mace.

Mace wasn’t looking straight out pleased but he certainly wasn’t broody or pissed off, which was mostly what I knew about Mace’s inventory of emotions. He didn’t look quite happy, instead he looked energized and alert at the same time he looked mel ow, the last new to me in Mace’s emotional arsenal.

The Rock Chicks gathered around Stel a acting as buffers in case she needed us but Mace (breaking Hot Guy Courtship Tradition) wasn’t pushing it and he stayed out of her space.

By the time we walked into Daisy’s big room, we’d backed off.

That was a mistake.

Stel a sat on the arm of the couch next to Al y, Juno sitting on the floor by her side.

Mace walked right in and I watched, mouth dropping open, as he put his hands to her waist, shoved her clean off the couch to her feet, keeping his hands on her. She made an angry, surprised noise and her head whipped around to look at Mace but I couldn’t see her expression.

He sat down where she’d been sitting, slid back, put one foot into the couch and brought her down in front of him, straddling her and doing it close, his hand sliding from her hip to come to rest on the top of her thigh.

Holy shit!

Juno, by the way, took this in stride. Clearly used to this type of Mace Maneuver from days of yore.

Mace never struck me as an affectionate type of guy.

Like Luke, if you told me Mace would be affectionately demonstrative in a touchy way in public, I would have laughed. But there it was, proof positive.

My gaze shot to Al y. Al y was staring at Mace’s long leg by her side and her wide-eyed gaze shot to me. The Rock Chicks darted knowing looks at each other and then our eyes swung to Stel a.

Her back was ramrod straight, her face pissed way the hel off but I could tel she was damned if she was going to blow. Not now. He’d get it later and boy, was he going to get it.